Level-up your writing skills in this session packed with tips from the world's leading copywriters. Britt will share the lastest research and best practices for writing more effective website copy, blog headlines, social media posts, email marketing messages, and more!

1. WRITING WELL: COPYWRITING
HACKS & TIPS
TOURISM ACADEMY 2019

2. AGREE OR DISAGREE?

3. OLD SCHOOL COPYWRITING

4. YOU NAME IT. I’VE WRITTEN IT.

5. WHAT WE’LL COVER
TODAY:
1. General Copywriting Tips
2. Tips for Blogs, Headlines & Emails
3. Tools & Writing Processes

6. 8 SECONDS LONG
Average length of our
attention spans.
It was 12 seconds.
Has fallen to 8 seconds.

7. 9 SECONDS LONG
Goldfish have us beat by
1 second.
They are believed to have
an average attention span
of 9 seconds.

8. IT IS A BIG CHALLENGE
TO GET SOMEONE’S
ATTENTION.

9. YOUR WRITING HAS A
JOB TO DO - SO ASSIGN
A JOB TO EVERY WORD.

10. IF A WORD CANNOT DO
ITS JOB, FIRE IT.

11. IF A BETTER WORD CAN
DO THE JOB, PROMOTE IT.

12. KILL weak WORDS
● Actual
● Almost
● Perhaps
● Just
● Literally
● Really
● Very
● Things
● That
● Aspect
● Meaningful
● In Fact

13. USE ACTIVE VOICE
“Use the active voice.
The active voice is
usually more direct and
vigorous than the
passive.” - Strunk and White,
The Elements of Style

14. IT’S A STYLE THING

15. PASSIVE vs. ACTIVE
● Active voice means that a sentence has a
subject that acts upon its verb.
● Passive voice means that a subject is a
recipient of a verb's action.

16. “I will always remember my
first visit to Pittsburgh.
“My first visit to Pittsburgh will
always be remembered by me.”

17. PASSIVE VOICE TIPS
● Passive voice is NOT a grammatical error.
● Not all grammar checkers will catch
passive voice.
● If passive voice strengthens what you are
writing, then use it!

19. Unique
HEADLINES SHOULD BE
Specific Active
Crisp

20. IDEAL LENGTH FOR BLOG
HEADLINES?
● 6 Words | 50 Characters (Buffer)
● 12-18 Words | 80-95 Characters (BuzzSumo)
● 16 - 18 Words | 80-100 Characters (Outbrain)

21. BUZZSUMO STUDY OF 100
MILLION HEADLINES
buzzsumo.com/blog/most-shared-headlines-study/

22. PHRASES THAT WORK ON FACEBOOK
Source: BuzzSumo.com Study

23. “WILL MAKE YOU…”
● 24 Pictures That Will Make You Want to Visit Pittsburgh
● This Couples Anniversary Trip Will Make You Tear Up
● 6 Tips That Will Make You A Better Wine Taster
● 13 Pittsburgh Travel Tips That Will Make You Feel Smart

24. WORST PERFORMERS ON FACEBOOK
Source: BuzzSumo.com Study

25. TOP STARTING PHRASES ON FACEBOOK
Source: BuzzSumo.com Study

26. BEST NUMBERS IN LISTS
10 5 15
7 20 6 8

27. EMAIL COPYWRITING TIPS

28. 11.1 SECONDS
Average time spent
reading an email
message.
Source: Litmus Email Analytics.

29. 250-300 WORDS PER MINUTE
Reading speed for the
average adult human.

30. 50 WORDS IS IDEAL LENGTH
FOR EMAIL COPY
Wow. That's really not very much room for copywriting, is it? I'll
bet your emails are pretty long and you're thinking of testing
shorter copy. If you're wondering what fifty words looks like,
there are only fifty words total on this slide.

31. RE: SUBJECT LINES TAKE YOUR TIME
Spend as much time
writing the email
subject line as you
do the email copy
itself.

32. SUBJECT LINE + PREHEADER =

33. WRITING PROCESS & TOOLS

34. IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS
● Who is this for?
● How should they feel?
● What should they do?

35. ALWAYS OUTLINE FIRST
● Identify Subheadings
● Identify the 1-2 key ideas
you want to hit for each
Subheading

36. LET IT FLY!
● It’s a “free-write”
● Get your ideas down
● Save word choice,
grammar, and sentence
structure for later.

37. ESCHEW OBFUSCATION
(write like a human)

38. HEMINGWAY EDITOR

39. GRAMMARLY APP

40. GRAMMARLY APP

41. READ IT OUT LOUD
● Where do you get “stuck”
● Is there rhythm and “flow”

42. LOOK FOR PATTERNS & BREAK THEM
How to tell if your writing is repetitive? Hmmm...
Well if it is repetitive than you will repeat the
same words or the same constructions again
and again. There are so many words out there.
Why use the same words over and over again
and again?

43. VARY YOUR STYLE
● Sentence length
● Sentence construction
● Repeated word choices

44. GET STUCK? WALK AWAY

45. THANK YOU!
Britt Brouse
Digital Strategy Director @ Tempest
@brittbrouse